2024-25 Sun Devil hockey honors stars with annual team awards

Only 145 days until hockey season, but who's counting?

Saturday evening from Papago Golf Course, the Sun Devil Hockey team hosted their annual postseason awards dinner for season ticketholders, announcing the winners of the five team awards for the 2024-25 season as well as revealing the majority of the roster for this season, announcing the team captains for 2025-26, and giving fans an open forum Q&A session.

Team Awards

Every season, Sun Devil Hockey gives awards for Rookie of the Year, Best Teammate, Iron Man, Practice Hero, and Team MVP.

This year's Rookie of the Year comes as no surprise. Leading Sun Devil freshmen with 22 points (13 goals and 9 assists) and ranking 8th in the NCHC in scoring by a freshman, Cullen Potter was the hands down choice for Rookie of the Year.

Fresh off a great performance in the IIFH World U18 Championships in Texas in which he registered 4 goals and 4 assists in 7 games, Cullen was not at last night's event as he was preparing for next month's NHL Draft, where he will most likely become the program's first ever first round draft pick.

Best Teammate also comes as no surprise. One of the founding fathers of Sun Devil Hockey, Benji Eckerle was one of three remaining players from the Oceanside Ice Arena years.

An undeniable leader on and off the ice, Benji's season was cut short on the road at Miami during an off-ice warmup exercise. That didn't stop Benji from continuing to make contributions to the team, as he transitioned into a player-coach role for the remainder of the season.

Outgoing captain Ethan Szmagaj was this year's recipient of the Iron Man Award. After the last two seasons being a defensive staple with fellow Founding Father Ty Murchison, Ethan took on a quieter leadership role as team captain in 2024-25.

In his four year career at Arizona State, Ethan appeared in 130 games, putting up 6 goals, 22 assists, and 28 points from the blue line. A true embodiment of "Be The Tradition", Ethan's mark on the program will long be remembered.

This season's Practice Hero Award went to none other than Kyle Smolen. As a freshman in 2023-24, Kyle put up a respectable line of 7 goals, 9 assists, and 16 points in 36 games. As a sophomore however, Kyle's work ethic became clear as he took his game to the next level.

Nearly doubling his scoring output with 12 goals, 18 assists, and 30 points, Kyle established himself as a permanent first line fixture for this upcoming season. Not only did his scoring increase, but he became much more disciplined in his play, cutting down his penalty minutes from 59 as a freshman to 22 last year. More on him later in this article, but he has emerged as a true leader for the Sun Devils moving forward.

The Sun Devils had a number of players who could have laid claim to the Team MVP for 2024-25, but Artem Shlaine stood out above everyone else. A graduate transfer from Northern Michigan, Shlaine actually missed the first six games of the season due to injury.

After a few games getting up to speed, his impact on the team became immediately clear. Breaking out with four goals in the road sweep at Denver in November, Artem was the team's most consistent scorer. Two 4-point games, four scoring streaks of four games or more, he was held off the scoresheet for a whole series just twice all season (November 8-9 at Colorado College, February 21-22 vs. Western Michigan).

The accolades didn't stop there, as he was named to the all-NCHC First Team, won the NCHC Three Stars Award, was a finalist for NCHC Player of the Year and Forward of the Year, and joined Joey Daccord as just the second ACHA All-American when he was named to the West Region Second Team.

Artem also wasn't in attendance to receive his award as the Texas Stars are currently in the Calder Cup Playoffs in the Central Division Finals awaiting the winner of the semifinal series between the Milwaukee Admirals and Rockford IceHogs.

2025-26 Roster

The next highlight of the night was the announcement of the roster for next season. The ten returning players from 2024-25 are as follows:

F Bennett Schimek (Sr.)
D Tucker Ness (Sr.)
F Cruz Lucius (Sr.)
F Kyle Smolen (Jr.)
D Anthony Dowd (Jr.)
G Chase Hamm (Jr.)
D Brasen Boser (So.)
D Sam Court (So.)
D Joel Kjellberg (So.)
F Cullen Potter (So.)

There is still one remaining incoming player to be announced, but here are the rest of the players, starting with the freshmen and moving to the transfers, with most recent team listed:

Freshmen:

F Ben Kevan - Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
F Carmello Crandell - Tri City Americans (USHL)
F Braxton Whitehead - Regina Pats (WHL)
F Sam Alfano - Erie Otters (OHL)
D Richard Baran - Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
D Lincoln Kuehne - USNTDP
G Samuel Urban - Sioux City Musketeers (USHL)

Transfers:

F Noah Powell (So.) - Oshawa Generals (OHL), prev. Ohio State University
F Ty Nash (So.) - University of Alberta (USports), prev. Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
F Logan Morrell (So.) - Michigan Tech
F Sean McGurn (Jr.) - University of New Brunswick (USports), prev. London Knights
F Cole Spicer (Jr.) - Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL), prev. Minnesota-Duluth
F Johnny Waldron (Sr.) - Miami
G Connor Hasley (Sr.) - Bentley

Captains

While the full leadership group for the 2025-26 season is still to be announced, last night fans learned that two players will be wearing the C for the Devils this season.

Junior Kyle Smolen and senior Bennett Schimek will both serve as team captains this season, unknown how the split of games where each wears the C will be determined. Smolen's selection comes as no surprise, as throughout last season he took on a very active leadership role on and off the ice, being a consistent presence in postgame press conferences.

Schimek established himself very quickly as a valuable asset after transferring in from Providence before last season, and will be a strong voice for a very young Sun Devil team.

Additional Notes

During the open Q&A session, Coach Powers made mention of the change in tournament ranking procedures, as the NCAA will be moving away from the Pairwise ranking system that was adopted in the 1990's and tweaked over the years. In its place, the NCAA will be adopting the NPI system that is currently used in women's Division I and all across Division III hockey.

The main difference between Pairwise and NPI is that NPI is a more direct calculation of a team's standing, while Pairwise was competition based. A long-standing issue with the Pairwise was how little a team actually had control over their position in the rankings. The RPI factor put a 75% weight out of a team's control, with 50% of the total weight coming from opponent's winning percentage and 25% coming from the winning percentage of opponent's opponents, and the final 25% from a team's own winning percentage.

NPI places the greater focus on winning percentage and strength of schedule. Had NPI been the selection criteria for last season, Arizona State would have made the tournament in the final at-large bid over eventual national semifinalist Penn State.

This announcement was already made on social media, but the night would not have been complete without acknowledging the hiring of Johnny Walker as the new head coach for the ACHA M1 Sun Devils.

A staple of the ASU record books, Johnny retired as the program's leader in goals (70) and points (123), shares the single-season goals record (23, 2018-19) with Matthew Kopperud, and ranks in the Top 5 in most offensive categories in program history. After a short career in the ECHL, Johnny returned to Phoenix and remained active in the hockey community, leading to a return to the bench at his alma mater.

The other fun announcement was this season's Fan Charter series, which will take place for the North Dakota series November 14th and 15th. More information will be coming, but don't miss out on this opportunity to further your hockey fandom as the Devils make their first ever trip to the legendary Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.

Closing Thoughts

As Year 2 in the NCHC inches ever closer, there is so much to be excited about as the Sun Devils build off the immediate success enjoyed in 2024-25. The road to Las Vegas is right around the corner, and I can't wait to be back in my winter home in Section 106 at Mullett Arena. As always, Forks Up and Be The Tradition!